With the help of Realise Business, local restaurant owner Sam Tech has turned around a difficult situation, working with his landlord to relieve the pressure of rent stress.
Finding the perfect place to set up, fit out and open a restaurant is an exciting phase. The experienced owners of Ya-Malaysia restaurant had secured their site on Church Street, Parramatta, backed by a business model that focused on the advertised vibrant atmosphere of the precinct.
While this business model had worked well for their other sites at Rhodes and Chatswood, when Ya-Malaysia commenced operating in Parramatta, the revenue fell short of expectations.
Sam Tech, owner of Ya-Malaysia, confronted the challenges they were facing and met with Realise Business Advisors for marketing and operational advice. Their meetings uncovered that the site-specific problems for this popular Malaysian restaurant were the high cost of rent, overstated foot traffic projections, tenant liability for building repairs and the possible impact of Parramatta Light Rail construction in the short term.
Realise Business Advisor, Katherine Blizard, in advisory sessions with Sam, assisted the restaurant’s recovery by steering his focus towards tenancy arrangements. Addressing these with the landlord would, in the end, help Sam obtain a 22% rent reduction.
During their advisory sessions Katherine identified that although Ya-Malaysia had the same strong marketing plans in place for their Church Street site and similar operational costs to their other more profitable sites, they hadn’t accounted for specific circumstances such as expensive tenancy obligations in the new location.
With Katherine’s assistance, Sam wrote an email to his landlord explaining his circumstances and detailing his request for a rent reduction.
The landlord took on board Sam’s feedback and request, and in turn approved a rent reduction of 22%.
This rent reduction will improve the resilience of the business as it continues to market to attract new customers over the months and years ahead.
Sam is looking forward to the future, serving up the fine hawker-style food that has made Ya-Malaysia’s name, like Yum Yum Sizzling Crab and Ya-Malaysia Spicy Chicken, as well as specialties available only at Church Street Parramatta, such as BBQ flounder with special Ya-Malaysian spicy sambal.
If you have retail and commercial lease concerns, contact the Realise Business team for advice. You can also attend the upcoming NSW Small Business Commission Retail and Commercial Lease Workshop by registering here.
To book a session or know more about Katherine Blizard please click here.
